TREATMENT FOR DRUG OFFENDERS CONSIDERED AS REMEDY FOR PRISON CROWDING IN KANSAS

Kansas prisons have never been fuller.

The population, bulging to 99 percent of capacity, is nearing 9,000 and is
expected to continue growing for at least the next decade.

With the state in fiscal crisis, no new prisons on the horizon and the
state's newly elected attorney general vowing to get even tougher with
criminals, Kansas justice professionals are in a bind.

Some, however, think they have a simple solution that could open hundreds
of prison beds -- putting nonviolent drug users in a treatment program
instead of locking them up.

That's the approach the Kansas Sentencing Commission is proposing to
lawmakers as the best way to open prison space without sacrificing public
safety.

A joint legislative committee that oversees corrections recently agreed to
introduce a bill to authorize such a treatment program.

But will politicians who run on "get tough on crime" platforms endorse such
a move?

Alternatives may be even more politically unpalatable.

Without the treatment program, members of the joint committee say they'll
propose legislation seeking millions to expand the state's El Dorado
Correctional Facility.

"We're on a collision course with going over capacity," said Sen. Pete
Brungardt, a Salina Republican. "It's not a choice to do nothing."

Some states facing similar problems have given inmates early releases. On
Tuesday, Arkansas corrections officials authorized the release of 521
prisoners.

"The last thing we want to see is a reduction in sentence lengths," said
Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison, vice chairman of the Kansas
Sentencing Commission.

The criminal justice professionals who make up the commission are required
by law to provide alternatives to the Legislature when the number of
inmates nears the prisons' capacity.

The move toward treatment instead of incarceration for drug users is
growing across the country. Voters in some states, such as California, have
endorsed such programs by wide margins.

In Missouri, programs such as the Jackson County Drug Court are
well-established and paid for through an anti-drug sales tax. The program,
which started in 1993, offers treatment and counseling as an alternative to
criminal prosecution. About 900 people have graduated, and the majority
have remained drug-free, officials say.

They are the same type of nonviolent offenders whom Kansas officials hope
to move out of prison cells.

The Kansas proposal calls for a statewide mechanism for assessing and
treating a limited number of drug offenders. Morrison said the proposal
calls for a conservative approach.

"People who have shown a history of hurting other people or dealing drugs
will not be eligible," Morrison said. "They don't deserve to be."

The commission is studying programs in other states and plans to present a
detailed report to the Legislature in January, said Barbara Tombs,
executive director of the sentencing commission.

Studies have shown that outpatient drug treatment is far less expensive
than incarceration, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part
of the National Institutes of Health.

The Kansas Department of Corrections says it costs about $20,000 to
incarcerate one person for one year. Most of that cost is for security and
control, said spokesman Bill Miskell.

In contrast, Jackson County Drug Court officials estimate that the average
participant uses about $1,500 in services.

The federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment has calculated that
society saves $3 for every $1 spent on treatment. The savings come from
reducing the costs of incarceration and medical costs while increasing the
individual's ability to earn a living and pay taxes.

Tombs attributes the current crisis in the Kansas prison population to
"stacking" -- the result of nearly a decade of legislative policy that in
some cases has doubled or quadrupled the length of prison sentences for the
most serious offenders.

"We're not putting more people in," she said. "People just aren't leaving."

Officials estimate that 65 percent to 75 percent of those in prison have
some substance-abuse issue. Those figures mirror national estimates.

In fiscal 2001, more than 1,500 offenders were sentenced to Kansas prisons
for felony drug possession. That number does not include those with drug
problems who committed other crimes or those who violated parole by using
drugs.

In-prison treatment programs are limited by availability of funding and the
sheer volume of inmates who need treatment, the sentencing commission found.

The Kansas Department of Corrections can accommodate 30 persons in its
chemical-dependency unit at Larned and a total of 184 in its intensive
therapeutic community programs at three other institutions.

The current system has produced a revolving door for drug offenders who
receive no meaningful, long-term drug treatment while incarcerated,
according to the sentencing commission's 2002 report to the Legislature.

Once out of prison, the offenders resume their abuse of drugs and end up
back in prison.

"The state of Kansas currently has no statewide coordinated, structured,
consistent spectrum of treatment and punishment for drug offenders other
than incarceration," the commission reported.

According to the sentencing commission, 1,257 persons sentenced in fiscal
2001 for felony drug possession had no history of crimes against persons.

"If this target group of offenders were placed in treatment versus
incarceration in state correctional facilities, it is projected this policy
change would result in a prison bed savings of between 400 and 800 prison
beds," according to the commission's report.

To be effective, the treatment program would have to be used statewide, the
commission says. Some areas of the state have treatment programs now, while
others do not.

And the commission is not proposing a cakewalk for offenders.

Morrison said there should still be a punishment component to any treatment
program. Offenders could still serve time in county jails or on house
arrest, and those who reject treatment and continue to use drugs would have
to serve their full prison sentences.

"The use, sale, manufacture and trafficking of drugs is illegal in Kansas
and should remain so regardless of any policy development related to the
treatment of drug offenders in the criminal justice system," members of the
commission wrote in their report.

Morrison said the program would affect a relatively small percentage of
offenders but could have a big impact on the state's justice system.

"The key to success is whether the Legislature will fund meaningful
treatment," he said.